Quests & Challenges

[url=http://flightrising.com/main.php?dragon=48165554] [img]http://flightrising.com/rendern/350/481656/48165554_350.png[/img] [/url] [item=bountiful fishnet][item=acorn][item=incorporeal dinner][item=vegetable oil][item=potato onion][item=glow mushroom] Alvero starts by filleting the fish and slicing it into strips. He tears the meat off of the poultry and chops some potato onions and glow mushrooms. He adds everything to a pan and covers it. While that is cooking Alvero grabs a mortar and pestle and grinds the acorns into a fine flour. The flour is mixed into a bowl with butter, warm water, and a pinch of salt. He kneads the dough into a ball and uses a rolling pin to flatten it. He carefully lines a pie tin with the dough and checks on the pie filling mixture in the pan. He pours out the mixture, covers the pie with the remaining dough, then puts it in the oven. When the pie crust is golden brown he retrieves the meat and fish pie from the oven and places it out for the judge.

[center][url=http://flightrising.com/main.php?dragon=38225245] [img]http://flightrising.com/rendern/350/382253/38225245_350.png[/img] [/url][/center] @Saraceaser This next batch of tea wasn't as delicious as the first, but certainly much better than the second. "Interesting," he said, taking a whiff of the tea, "I'd suggest balancing out the flavors a bit more to make it more palatable for pickier dragons, but the orchid's aroma does work wonders for the sinuses. And you're right, the reversing of the Crescendo [i]has[/i] wrecked havoc with the usual allergy trends. I'm still trying to sort them out." It was nice to talk shop on a topic he actualy felt knowledgeable in. ((As I tea person I can honestly say you got the gist of it XD)) @Scatterspark Tonraq is so tired of salads. So...so tired. And this entry basically looks like salad on bread. A different spin sure but still salad. The difference this time is this submission was [i]superb[/i]. He thought at first that maybe his low expectations before sampling it just made it seem better by comparison, but nope, the whole thing was delicious and he finished it all. "If this is all that was brought to a spring picnic I wouldn't mind in the least," he admitted. @Lonefox The ice cream was quite delightful and a rather nice follow-up to the sandwich he'd had from the previous entry. But it was back to salad nightmares again. Though nightmare was probably too strong of a word in this case. The dressing on this one was rather nice as well as the balance of ingredients chosen, for the most part. "Raw onions are a powerful thing," Tonraq said as he picked a few out of his next bite, "And if you were going to put this many all at once into your dish, I would have recomended grilling or frying them as a garnish to match the smokey taste you gave the greenpod." @VientoVino Tonraq felt like he was gnawing on leather. "The Diseased Fungi was a clever idea to counterbalance yet compliment the orchid," he admitted, trying to eat around the strips that were in the mix, "But this Flameweed...its a horribly resilliant plant and while it has it's uses, it needs to be prepared the right way in order to be edible. Either smaller pieces or cooking it seperately and longer to soften it would have made this dish more pleasant." @Terrone This was it. It wasn't [i]perfect[/i] but this was the best meal Tonraq had had all day and he wasn't sure if anything else was even going to come close as the day started to wind down to a close. "Even though you didn't actualy blend the challenge ingredients together you still managed to make them harmonious!" the nocturen exclaimed delightedly, helping himself to more bites between sentences. "You really must tell me how you managed the chilled grilled mantis as well! I've never had them prepared that way and that particular option absolutely my favorite." He was so excited he barely registered Calantha's challenge, but Verismo did and ducked his head low so he could speak to her one on one. "I think my mate told me about you once before. She mentioned playing an herb guessing game with a contestant some time before I joined the clan. Now...if [i]I[/i] had to wager a guess I'd say..." he mulled it over a bit, "It's very mellow but perhaps mint?" @justChimeric After the last entry, the judge fully expects it to be a letdown by comparison, but is pleasantly surprised that the meal stands rather well on it's own. Really, in general it was a very well assembled dish...but that Ashfall Prickler sauce was just [i]too much.[/i] Even after consuming all the offered sorbet he still had an annoying tingle on his tongue. A certain purple scaled judge not at all subtly creeps up to the duo's workspace when she sees Tonraq walk away fanning his mouth. "Could I try some?" Syrah asks, eyes gleaming at the thought of more spicy treats. @Sidegrinder Tonraq eyed the last contestant at the workstation. He was rather certain the Imperial had been there right at the start at dawn, and yet here he still was. He was starting to feel a bit fidgety because even though Mistral Meals didn't technically have a time limit, it was generally understood that dragons were expected to leave when the rest of the rest of the fair grounds (excluding the explicitly indicated night-time events) shut down for the evening. He was therefore relieved when Hannibal indicated he was ready for judging. The tea of course was his favorite. He'd never actually made cold-brewed tea before, as typically he needed it on a much faster timeframe, but he'd be willing to give it a try if it meant he could attempt at replicating this blend. The quiche was also very pleasant, and though it wasn't in his top three dishes of the day, it certainly made the cut for top ten. "Can't say I'm fond of veggies in my eggs, but it works well enough I suppose," he commented, "Personaly I would have upped the pancetta levels instead." [center][img]https://i.imgur.com/g4gX7WS.png[/img][/center] And with that we wrap up Day one of Mistral Meals! Just in time for me to go do some cooking of my own for dinner before diving into Day 2! There were a total of 31 entries yesterday and the lucky winner is: [b]@MythicalViper!![/b] You'll be receiving....more tea! XD In this case a special blend brewed up by Tonraq for relieving tension and perfect after a long day of dealing with more dragons and salad than you'd care for. [center][item=senecio haworthii][item=heart rose][item=speckled fire lily][/center]

[url=http://flightrising.com/main.php?dragon=7173591] [img]http://flightrising.com/rendern/350/71736/7173591_350.png[/img] [/url] Chess was understandably disappointed with his first day's results, but cakes weren't his strong point anyway. And it always took him a little bit of time to warm up in the competition. He looked over today's ingredients. As seafood was a favorite of his, he knew a lot of recipes involving fish. Perhaps today... he would go traditional. An old school fish and chips. His first step was stripping the fish of big chunks of bone-free flesh. Chess didn't attempt to get all the little pieces off the bones - for this particular recipe, he needed big meaty chunks. He then ground the acorns to a fine powder and used the dust as the crust of the fish (along with some salt and spices). Into the deeper fryer the pieces went. Next, he thinly sliced the roots of the sweet potato vine and seasoned them - into the deep fryer those went too. His final step was skinning the Incorporeal Dinner - he dusted it with salt and golden pepper flakes. Into the deeper fryer with the skin too. After pulling them out of the deeper fryer and draining all the items, Chess carefully arranged the items on the plate and tasted a sampling. The fish was moist, and the chips were crisp. He placed a small dipping bowl of malt vinegar on the plate and waited for the judge. [b]Entry: Fish 'N Chips[/b] Required Ingredients: [item=Incorporeal Dinner][item=Bountiful Fishnet][item=Acorn] Additional Ingredients: [item=salt][item=Sweet Potato Vine][item=Golden Pepper]

[center][url=http://flightrising.com/main.php?dragon=49701518] [img]http://flightrising.com/rendern/350/497016/49701518_350.png[/img] [/url] The polite Petal volunteered to cook tonight so Faeg wouldn’t have to come back. She’d heard the snapper’s grumbling of her terrible cooking experience, though it sounded fun to her. Unlike Faeg, Petal had plenty of cooking experience. As the second generation of her family, she grew up with no other clan mates but her parents, so she had to learn to do most things by herself, including cook. Never one to shy away from a challenge, Petal looked at the required ingredients ahead of her. [item=incorporeal dinner][item=bountiful fishnet][item=acorn] As a lover of all food types, these three items were no worry to the imperial. She immediately thought up a dish, and added a few more ingredients of her own. [item=pinwheel paddies][item=ashfall prickler][item=tendrilback caterpillar][item=dusty marigold][item=alstroemeria] Petal decided to make a sweet-and-spicy wrap with her ingredients. She used the Pinwheel Paddies to roll up and hold all of the ingredients. They didn’t have a taste, but she knew she could make the inside explode with enough flavor, she only needed the paddies to hold the flavor. For the meat she skinned, de-boned, beheaded, and grilled some fish from the bountiful fishnet, and pulled some breast meat off of the incorporeal dinner. She shredded the two meat items and tossed them together. Next, Petal used the insides of the Ashfall Pricker for a tasty spicy sauce, and laid some Tendrilback Caterpillars onto the Paddies for an extra kick. The imperial lived spicy foods, and she hoped the judges did too. Just in case they didn’t, she also laid some Dusty Marigolds and Alstroemerias along the wrap to add plenty of sweetness to make the perfect dish. Petal rolled up all of her ingredients into the Paddies. Satisfied with her work, she plated it neatly and waited to be judged. [/center]

[url=http://flightrising.com/main.php?dragon=47985951] [img]http://flightrising.com/rendern/350/479860/47985951_350.png[/img] [/url] The imperial stared thoughtfully at the ingredients laid out before him. He had prepared a meal before, but he couldn't say that he was an accomplished chef. [i]Hmmmm...[/i] [item=incorporeal dinner][item=bountiful fishnet][item=acorn] Without fully knowing what the end result would look like, Helios started preparing the fish. The head and tail were disposed of, and the scales were removed to expose the meat. He then chopped them up into slices, removing the bones in the process, and put them aside. Helios boiled the acorns until they were ripe enough to pop the caps off. The nuts were then chopped up into bits--not quite a powder, but little chunks. Setting those aside, he examined the incorporeal dinner. It did look a bit dull, if not ghostly. He sliced the meat into strips similar to what he did with the fish. [item=wisp fruit] Helios had the idea to create a meat cake with layers of fish and turkey, sprinkled with the acorn bits. He set out to make the dough. He found some wisp fruit stored in a cooler, so he crushed the fruit and mixed it in with the dough to give it a light texture. He then used salt and spices to give the meat flavour, stacked everything on top of each other and sprinkled the acorn crumbs over the cake. After cooking for a while in the oven, Helios took it out to reveal a golden-brown pie-looking meal. Not bad, but not very outstanding. Helios hoped that this would be decent in the judge's eyes.

[center][url=http://flightrising.com/main.php?dragon=21535395] [img]http://flightrising.com/rendern/350/215354/21535395_350.png[/img] [/url][/center] @RubieKanary "This is..." Verismo struggled to find words to describe Reggie's dish. It wasn't that he couldn't be straightforward about whether food was good or bad, but considering how rough Tonraq had been the day before, he felt some niceties would be appreciated. But niceties could only go so far. "To be quite honest with you, I'm shocked this is even edible," he finaly admitted, "I mean, you certainly get points for surprising me with that fact, but you might want to brush up on kitchen safety policies before you attempt another challenge." @dividedAnimus "Hmm..." Verismo takes several bites of of the pilaf, but unfortunately it's pretty clear that he's doing so not because he's loving the dish, but because he's trying to pinpoint something down regarding flavor. "I can't taste any of the incorporeal dinner," the Imperial says with a shake of his head, "Infusing broth with it usualy is a good way to go about it and has served contestants well in the past, but it's still a tricky ingredient and it seems it may have just simply evaporated. If you ever try using it again, I recommend cooking it at a lower temperature." @VelveteenVixen Verismo seems just as pensive about the next dish. In addition to swishing a few mouthfuls of soup around in his mouth, he also seems to be glancing between their work space and the one next to them, which happens to belong to Roxy and Reggi. Eventually he sighs with a shake of his head. "Your broth is quite greasy. At first I thought it might have been simply a particularly fatty cut of seal but I think some of the oil from your neighbors'....incidents...may have splashed over into your pot when your back was turned. Which is a shame because it makes it much more difficult to judge the quality of the rest of the soup's contents." ((I'd never heard of Ukha before. Congrats for clueing me into a new dish [emoji=coatl happy])) @Jaspernoir "I..." Verismo prods at the dish Grimes had served up, then glances up at the dragon, then back down at the meal. If only his mate was judging this round. He wasn't sure if this was supposed to be Plague cuisine, but she'd be able to tell at a glance if it was safe to eat or not. "Why don't you take some snacks back to your clan on us?" He offered after the barest taste-test with his tongue, "They always seem rather popular even if we don't sell them at a food stand." @Sylvandyr Any other dragon would be amazed at how a pair of brothers managed to somehow stealthily but accidentaly sabatoge multiple dishes within their vicinity. Verismo knew first hand though that at Mistral Meals accidents had an unfortunate tendency to snowball. At least they hadn't had a judge induced accident yet! He ends up coughing a bit on the way too overpoweringly taste of fishy oil that had soaked into the beautifully prepared ceviche, and then somewhat apologetically offers up snack boxes in exchange yet again. Before it all went wrong though, he did get a good laugh though at Elmylshal's policy on weak eaters and leftovers due to personal experience. Even without an Imperial sized-stomach, Verismo would probably still be one of the more ravenous eaters in the clan. @AshuriiAkemi The day was starting off pretty poorly. Even if Verismo always got a kick out of the rounds that utilized incorporeal dinner, he was starting to wonder if maybe using it this early in the competition was more mean-spirited than amusing. Then there was the whole matter of the oil incidents, but in Ananyo's case it was definitely the ghost meat that was his undoing. "The sashimi and sushi's lovely, though I've always found pineapple shiners to be too tart to be served raw, but you ran into the same issue another contestant did with cooking the incorporeal dinner too fast." He picked up an uneaten bit of tempura and cracked it open, revealing it to be just a husk of batter. "There's the faintest hint of a taste that managed to be trapped inside, but the rest of it dissolved with the extreme heat."

[center][b]Monday[/b][/center] [center][url=http://flightrising.com/main.php?dragon=49362613] [img]http://flightrising.com/rendern/350/493627/49362613_350.png[/img] [/url][/center] Diana was suprisingly elated that her last dish had been edible despite the tough flameweed in the mix. She was more determined than ever to improve her skills. This time she would use the [b]Incorporeal Dinner[/b] and the [b]Bountiful Fishnet [/b]as the base to make a New England Chowder. But before she started there were still the [b]Acorns[/b] left to consider. What could she add to deepen the taste? After looking around the kitchen, she sautéed the acorns along with some potatoes and Gradishes. Once they were soft she added them to a large pot where chunks of the incorporeal dinner were cooking. Diana then added some Bountiful Fish along with pieces of Picked-Over Bones to simmer inside. Once the stew was nice and thick she scooped up a serving, hot-and-ready for judging.

@VelveteenVixen

Roxy was still busy helping Reggi clean up the complete disaster of a mess by attempting to soak up the spilt oil with a cloth when he heard his name being called. Peaking over the counter, the Skydancer recognized it was from one of the other contestants they saw yesterday.

“You got this, right?” Roxy gave his sibling a stare.

“Yeah, yeah.” Reggi mumbled, still upset that Roxy was making him clean up all the spilt oil. “Go ahead, or whatever. I’ll just finish up here.”

Roxy quickly wiped his paws, before folding and placing the cloth away. He trotted over to Spire and Gladys timidly.

“Um…” Roxy’s tail swayed nervously as he neared. “Can I help you, ma’am…?”

---

@LadyOfTheSkies

The moment Roxy left him alone, Reggi had went ahead and left their station to poke around and look at what the other contestants were doing. His eyes were quickly set on the tidy line of small pies and the cooked turkey on one of the tables. The imperial’s mouth watered at the smell of spicy meat.

Reggi sighed and looked at the spicy incorporeal dinner longingly. He really wanted to take a bite out of the turkey, but the imperial stopped himself. His brother would probably strangle him if he found out he’d eaten one of the other contestant’s dishes.

Calantha again arrives at the judging station relatively late in the day. This time she is pushing a small cart laden with steaming food. She stops in front of Verismo and moves to stand beside the cart so she can begin serving her entry. "Thank you for playing the herb-guessing game with me yesterday and I hope you will enjoy playing it again today. Mint was a good guess... however I'm afraid yesterday's secret ingredient was actually Sweet Grass." [item=Sweet Grass] "I was very excited to learn what today's ingredients are because Acorn is one of my clan's favorite foods and I have actually incorporated Acorn into all three of the courses I prepared today." She places a large covered platter before Verismo and uncovers it with a flourish. Underneath is what at first glance appears to be a Turkey Dinner -- it has a rich golden hue -- but on closer examination is actually the visibly-insubstantial Incorporeal Dinner with some sort of stuffing able to be seen through its phantasmagorical flesh. "Now as I'm sure you know Acorns can be quite bitter if prepared incorrectly. That's why I took care to pre-roast the whole shelled acorns I used to stuff the [b]Incorporeal Dinner[/b] before stuffing and roasting the bird. The acorns should give this course just enough substance to be enjoyable. In addition to the Acorns the stuffing also contains Wisp Fruit, Silverfish Spectres and Hallowed Ivy." [item= Incorporeal Dinner] [item=Wisp Fruit] [item=Silverfish Spectre] [item=Hallowed Ivy] From the middle shelf of the cart Calantha brings out a platter even bigger than the first though not as tall. She uncovers it to reveal several fish each covered in some sort of golden-brown coating. "For my second course I selected an assortment of six different dressed whole fish from the [b]Bountiful Fishnet[/b] -- since I didn't know which types of fish you would find most palatable I wanted to give you options -- and breaded and pan-fried them. I used a mixture of beaten egg and Sour Strawberry juice to dip each fish in and then rolled each one in toasted Acorn flour before baking them. Acorn flour needs to be leached in running water for at least a week to remove its bitter alkaloids but fortunately I had some ready to hand." [item=Bountiful Fishnet] [item=Sour Strawberry] Once Verismo has had his fill of fish Calantha at last takes the final and smallest platter from the bottom shelf of her cart and places it before the judge. Uncovered it turns out to contain a mound of steaming hot irregularly-shaped golden fritters. "Finally to round out the meal and showcase the [b]Acorn[/b]s I used more Acorn flour to make sweet Turnip fritters. These are seasoned with Cinnamon to bring out the sweet autumnal flavors of both the Acorns and the Turnips." [item=Acorn] [item=Turnip] [item=Cinnamon] "As usual I have also included a secret ingredient and I have used the same one in all three courses today. Your hint is that the secret ingredient is what I used to give the Incorporeal Dinner its meat-like hue." With that Calantha folds her foreclaws together to await Verismo's judgment...

((Geez folks...this is hands down the worst string of bad rolls I think I've witnessed in all my time hosting this time!)) [center][url=http://flightrising.com/main.php?dragon=21535395] [img]http://flightrising.com/rendern/350/215354/21535395_350.png[/img] [/url][/center] @CluelessCat Verismo hadn't noticed the rather elaborate feats of magic that went on at Snowbell's workspace, so he was quite dubious about the dish being presented to him. It...just seemed to be a particularly small fish with an acorn in its mouth after all. He picked it up between his claws and was about to pop it into his mouth when he accidentally dropped it... ...right among the rest of the now lifeless school off fish that was scattered all around Snowbell's station. The two of them tried to search for it, but at this point there was no way to tell which fish was the one that the Snapper had submitted for judging. "I do apologize," the Imperial said, rightfully embarrassed, "Please feel free to take back as many of these fish as you would like back with you for your clan. If you do happen to find the right one please flag me down and I'll come right back over." ((*RINGS BELL LOUDLY* FIRST CRIT OF THE EVENT! Unfortunately it's a crit fail but around here we still like big prizes for hitting super small odds ^_^)) @Daemonengrau Verismo shook his head politlely. "She hasn't been causing any trouble at all. Or if she has and I haven't noticed it's definately the least of my concerns today." One point Kalaghi managed to score over Marcie was that her incorporeal dinner did [i]not[/i] evaporate. Though whether it was enough to win their little bet was to be determined, as Verismo didn't seem terribly impressed with the rest of the dish. "The cake is creative, but the end result is pretty dry and mealy." @Sotku Verismo seemed to be enjoying Dust's dish well enough, but then grimaced a bit before swallowing the bite he'd just been chewing. "You did a good job picking out the bad acorns, but I think you might have missed a few. Unfortunately biting into one is enough to offput the rest of your dish." @Sylphiette "Wow!" Verismo's eyes widen as he pops one of the turkey hearts into his mouth. "I think you might have grabbed the wrong spice jar! I like a good kick in my rubs but this feels like it was overloaded with chili pepper. It's pretty much overriding the rest of the taste." @LadyOfTheSkies Gwyneira's turkey had the same issue that Momoka's did. The fact that two dragons in a row had the same issue with overpowering heat made Verismo wonder if he should get one of the other chefs to check the spice tent and make sure everything was labeled and inventoried correctly. He had nothing against peppers or heat, but it was akin to playing with fire if you didn't realize what you were working with.